Core
by t.j.guard
Summary: The group are now coming close to finding the end of the treasure hunt, but, as with every other step, there's someone in hot pursuit who adds his own complications.
1. Chapter 1

Core

Disclaimer: I don't own National Treasure, but the Compass series, including Tanya Howe, is mine.  
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Chapter One

Tanya slumped back in the passenger seat of Riley's convertible as he pulled over into a random parking lot off the side of the road and fished out his phone, dialling a number and waiting. She'd stopped counting after the fifth time he'd done this, but a quick mental calculation revealed that he was now well into the double digit range with his phone calls. Finally, she asked, "Who are you calling?"

"I'm trying to get in touch with the President," Riley replied, snapping his phone shut as he spoke, "but he's not answering."

"We saw him just vanish down that tunnel under London, and chances are, if you can't reach him, no one else can, either."

"Well, it doesn't hurt to try."

"Honestly, Riley, you've tried enough in the past twenty minutes to realize this is a futile exercise, correct?"

"Uh, well-"

"Don't give me that. Listen to me for a moment. What you should do is wait. If nothing else, he's still on the other side of the world, perhaps in Ireland, and he since he doesn't want to be found, he's either purchased a new cell phone and destroyed his old one or just foregone a cell phone altogether. Just take a break from all this and find something to do to relax, alright? Everything's going to be just fine."

Riley pocketed his phone with a smirk. "You don't know that."

"Actually, you'd be surprised what I know."

He pulled the car out of its parking space and prepared to turn onto the street. "Wanna just go home?"

"Sure," she replied with a shrug.

NTNT

Ian parked his sportscar up to the curb next to a storage complex Ben had given him directions to. He appeared to be a little early, so he climbed out and walked around the front of the car to lean against the hood, allowing his mind to wander.

In the days prior, not only had Shaw managed to help save Ian's life, but they'd actually made some progress in getting to wherever this hunt led to. It was really something, when he thought on it, but the hunt, always the hunt. It seemed his whole life revolved around treasure hunts, from his family history to his friendship with Ben, strained as it was at one point. His sister had already begun to give up, which had him slightly worried for his own future in this hunt. Perhaps she was right, and there was nothing at the end of this. Then again, there was the possibility that she was wrong, and there was something to be found at the end of this long, long train of clues, chases, enemies, allies, and a whole lot of other things that hadn't really come to make sense yet. For the most part, Ian was fairly certain of the latter, mostly due to his own gut feelings.

While he wasn't as accurate as his sister, he did have these feelings, and a lot of times they turned out to be correct. There were also things he understood on deeper levels before he could become conscious of them through various means. He reflected on these moments he had, but there was nothing he could do to change them.

Then he began to wonder if gut feelings could be clouded by personal states of mind or emotional states. It certainly seemed possible. After all, for a period of a few days, greed and the hunt had colored his mind, and in retrospect, things he felt, mostly pertaining to impending disaster of some form, he either felt incorrectly or ignored. At the present, his sister was becoming slightly disillusioned, which could be making her feel more and more closely to the heart that the hunt for what was at the heart of the web Page Forty-seven weaved was either worthless or nonexistant.

He didn't know if whatever he found at the end of this would be worth it, if anything, and he didn't know what he'd find in the storage unit, but he had the sense that something would be there.

Finally, Ben's sleek black car pulled up to the curb, facing him, and the man himself climbed out. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "I've been busy."

Ian gave Ben a once-over before asking, "Was it a particularly...urgent...appointment?"

"Well, sorta. It was my girlfriend."

"Ah, I see."

Ben pulled a key ring with a single key attatched to it out of his pocket. "Now, let's go see what we find." He led Ian down a walkway, past several fairly large warehouse doors, and ultimately stopped in front of one of them. He put the key in the lock and turned, but it took both of them to lift the door fully.

Ian stared at the contents of the storage unit; he couldn't believe that all this stuff was from his basement. "Where do we begin?" he asked.

"In the back. That's where we put all the older stuff."

"Alright, let's go."

"Y'know, you say that a lot."

"Got to keep moving, Ben. Idle hands are the Devil's workshop."

"Well, that is true."

Ian and Ben walked into the very back of the storage unit in something of a resolute silence. Ian's eyes scanned the boxes, crates, and chests, mostly chests the farther they got to the back, until he found the one that Tanya had been rifling through recently. He knelt beside it and opened it, studying the contents closely and slightly grateful that he was able to do so in better light than the first time around. After a moment, he began picking some of the contents up and studying them. There were several books, some pieces of cloth, a few pieces of jewelry in boxes, and some other odds and ends of the time.

Ian turned his attention to the books specifically, thumbing through the pages methodically. He adjusted his position as he did this, and he found he had to go through most of the books without finding anything.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Ben asked.

"Not sure," Ian replied, setting the book aside and reaching for another.

"Need help?"

"Not right now, but thank you for the offer." Ben nodded and took a seat on one of the crates, staring at the wall and stacks of boxes and such opposite. Ian continued to thumb through pages, but then he paused for a moment and had to thumb back through a few pages until he found what had caught his attention. It was a small envelope tucked in between the pages, sealed in wax, with the Howe coat of arms. "Ben, I've found it," he said, not daring to look away from the envelope.

Ben got up and walked over to Ian, leaning over his shoulder to get a closer look at the envelope. Ian began studying the pages, searching for clues as to why the envelope was placed where it was. Finding none, he put the book aside and broke the seal on the envelope.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The next day, Tanya found herself laying on the sofa, bored out of her mind, when the doorbell rang. She pulled herself to her feet and walked over to answer the door...to Riley. "What...are you doing here?" she asked, giving him a sidelong look and furrowing her brow.

"I just wanted to see you," he replied. "Hey, where's Ian?"

"Left to meet Ben at some storage unit somewhere. God knows why. Anyway, come in." Riley walked in, and Tanya shut the door behind him. "How're things?"

"Okay."

"Just okay?"

"Well, I've been thinking a lot over the past few days, and, well, maybe you're right. Maybe we are being set up. I can't figure out why, yet, but I think if anyone wanted to do this to us, it'd be the President."

"Why?"

"Well, for one, he's the only one that has access to the Book of Secrets," Riley explained as he walked into the living room. "Then there's the fact that he somehow always seems to be involved, at each phase of this...I guess we could call it a hunt. Oh, and don't forget what happened in the tunnel."

"How could I?" Tanya replied, leaning against the perpetually empty door frame between the hall and the living room.

"Well, think about it, honestly think. How could he have known about the tunnel, or, for that matter, where to find O'Malley, or who he even was?"

Tanya chewed her lip a moment, pondering over Riley's words. She walked into the living room and took a seat on one of the armrests of the recliner he was sitting in. "It makes sense," she finally said. "How else could any of what's happened be true?"

"Well, there is one other thing. Chew on this for a sec: not only does the President have access to the super-secret Book of Secrets, he knows what Page Forty-seven is supposed to lead to, and, assuming it's a vast hoard of treasure, he wants it."

"A treasure doesn't have to be a vast hoard. Think of Indiana Jones for a moment. The treasures were one item each, about: the Arc of the Covenant, the Crystal Skull. Those are small things, relative to the Templar Treasure, and easy to carry around, hide, et cetera. Suppose this treasure, if it is a treasure, is only one such item. It would be very easy to get it back to the United States and use it for one's own ends, and I mean stupidly easy."

"Like, what kind of item?"

"Ever heard of the Akashic Records?"

"That book that supposedly has everything about everything we mere humans know and will know in it?"

"Yes. You see, that sort of knowledge can very easily be used for, say, ruling the world."

"What kind of person wants to do that?"

"A politician."

"Okay, so, let's recap. We've got two possibilities. One, the President has set us up so he can have some sort of glory moment and keep public attention, and two, the President knows more than he's letting on and following us to wherever this ends so he can get at what's there, a book, a treasure, whatever."

"Sounds about right."

"Question is, which one is right?"

"And what do we do once we have that established?"

Riley shrugged. "Who knows?"

"That's the second question we'll need to ask ourselves as this goes on."

"Oh." Riley snaked an arm around Tanya's waist and gently pulled her toward him. "You know, I think, since we have all this time on our hands now, we should get closer." She repositioned herself in such a way that as she leaned backwards, she ended up on his lap.

"Very much agreed," she whispered in her ear, nuzzling his neck gently. "I've missed this."

He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed gently. She shifted her position a little so that she was a little more comfortable, and she let out a soft sigh. "Wow, I almost forgot what this felt like," he whispered.

"So did I."

After some time, Tanya turned her face away from Riley's neck for a little fresh air, and while she was at it, she adjusted her position so that her head rested against Riley's chest. "You know what we can do now that we have all this time?" she asked after a moment.

"I dunno. What?" Riley replied.

"We can figure out who or what caused the prison riot that almost got my brother killed."

"It's a prison riot."

"But if someone told him he had to be out of the way, then it could've been deliberate. If so, then two important questions need to be asked. First, who caused it, and second, for what purpose?"

"It's Ian, okay? I'm pretty sure that guy has a lot of enemies."

"In England, and they wouldn't dare touch him."

"Then he probably pissed off some guy who happened to be an inmate while he was there."

She got to her feet, took the few steps necessary to get to the sofa, turned, and plopped down in one of the seats next to an armrest. "I'll talk to my brother about it when he gets back, alright? I really want to find this out, and I can now."

"Okay," Riley said without a moment's hesitation. "I'm in."

At that moment, Tanya's phone rang, and she answered without even checking the caller ID. "Ian, what do you want?" she asked, almost snappishly.

"I was just wondering if you had a moment, because I found something I think you'll want to see," Ian replied.

"Wait, you actually found something following this train?"

"Well, not exactly anything of note, unless you consider notes of note."

"It's a note? Then it's probably just another clue."

"Yes, it is another clue, which is why I want you to come down here."

"What, you can't read it over the phone?"

"I could, but I suspect something about the way it's written that I think you might know something about."

"I thought Mr. Decoding-Expert-Gates was with you."

"He is, but given the inclusive nature of this hunt with regard to our family, I want to make sure we're involved as much as possible."

"Okay, Ian, newsflash. There might not be anything at the end of this. I thought Riley and I, especially Riley, made that clear."

"You have, Tanya, both of you, but what if I told you this clue stumps Ben?"

Tanya's mouth fell open. "S-s-st-st-st-stumps Benjamin Franklin Gates?"

"That seems to be the case."

She opened her mouth several times in some sort of effort to say something, but each time, she had to close her mouth upon discovering that words wouldn't escape her. Finally, she consented and shut up for a moment as a string of words put themselves together in her brain and prepared for shipment to her mouth. "I'll...I'll be right there," she said flatly, snapping her phone shut before Ian had a chance to respond.

"Lemme guess," Riley said, "You need a ride."

"It'd be very much appreciated."

NTNT

Riley pulled up to the curb of a street next to a warehouse complex that seemed to have taken him forever to find, and turned off the car. He and Tanya climbed out, he taking the keys with him, and walked down the sidewalk until they found a break in the chicken-wire fencing, at which point they walked into the complex. Tanya began scanning her surroundings for anything out of place when she noticed one of the doors was open. She pulled Riley along as she walked into the storage unit.

Ian was seated cross-legged at the back of the storage unit, and when Tanya reached his position, he handed her a note on parchment. Riley took a seat on a crate across from Ben, staring off into space and not really interested in saying anything.

Tanya studied the note, which was about the size of an index card and covered in tiny symbols. It was signed at the bottom, clearly by a Howe, but as that person only used their fist initial, she couldn't be sure which one. She turned the card over, wondering at first if there was a postscript on the back. Seeing that there was none, at least, none that she could see, she flipped the card back over and continued her examination of the front. After a moment, she said, "Wow, that is a headscratcher. Ian, what book did you find this in?"

Ian picked a book from the stack to his left and passed it up to his sister, who immediately scanned the outside edges. She could see a little gap about midway through toward the spine, so she opened to that page first. She found herself in the middle of a chapter, reading a passage which was absolutely nonsensical, so she kept her place with her finger, commited the page number to memory, and began searching the table of contents.

The titles of each chapter all had something to do with military strategy. This much was evident upon Tanya's scan of the first few titles listed. Eventually, though, she found the chapter containing the page the letter was found in: 'Using Secret Languages to Convey Information Across Enemy Lines'. Tanya turned back to the page and reread the passage, but it still didn't make much sense.

"Is it...worth a million dollars?" Riley asked, a mixture of hope and nervousness on his face.

"I don't know," Tanya replied, more to herself than Riley or anyone else.

"Is there anything in there that can help us?" Ian asked.

"We'll need to take this home and study it."

"And then what?" Riley asked.

"I would assume that depends on what we find out here," Ben said, giving Riley a flat look.

"Makes sense."

Ben turned his attention to Ian and asked, "So, who follows who?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Can't they just say 'go to this place, here's the treasure, spend it wisely'?" Riley asked on the drive back to Ian's place.

"Of course not," Tanya replied somewhat jokingly. "That would be too easy." She added, on a more serious note, "Actually, the note might actually say that. We just have to figure out how to decode it."

"How? It's a bunch of tiny little symbols on a piece of paper signed by somebody named D. Howe who probably thought it would be funny to send meaningless symbols to somebody as a practical joke."

"We need to see the envelope."

"What?"

"We need to see the envelope."

"What's that gonna tell us?"

"Everything about where it was going and where it was sent from. I'm willing to bet that from there, we can find out the author's identity and then possibly what method he used to encode the note to begin with."

"And then what're we gonna do?"

"Crack the code, follow it to the next one, and keep going, like we have been for the past several months."

"What if it turns out to be meaningless, like something about birds drinking tea, or whatever?"

"Then perhaps it's a key, and the real coded note is still somewhere in all our stuff, waiting to be cracked, and we'll then have the means by which to do it."

Riley sighed and reached down to turn the stereo volume up, but instead his hand fell to the center console without doing anything. She reached over and laced her fingers through his. "We're going to figure this out, no matter what's at the end of it," she whispered.

"You sure?"

"Positive."

NTNT

Ian parked his sportscar in front of Ben's midsized car and checked in his rearview mirror to find that Riley's red convertible was also preparing to park, though he decided he'd park opposite Ben on the walkway. He climbed out of the car and slipped a finger through the keyring.

Pretty soon, Tanya and Riley caught up with him. "What's new?" she asked.

"Absolutely nothing," Ian replied as he opened the door.

"What, no ghost sightings or anything?"

Ian gave his sister a flat look. "That's news?"

"Never mind." She followed Ian into the living room, where she found Ben, Phil, Powell, and Viktor sitting around and talking.

"Okay, so how do we figure out what the magic symbols mean?" Riley asked.

"Speaking of which," Tanya added, "do you have the envelope?"

"Why?" Ian asked.

"So I can look at it."

"Why?"

"To find out where it was going so I can find out who sent it."

"Why?"

"Are you going to stop asking me this question at any point in the near future?"

"Why?"

"Ian."

"Alright, fine." Ian fished the envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Tanya, who pulled the card out of the envelope and handed it back to Ian. She studied the address, which seemed to be a standard English one, but the letter was sent to a woman named Martha Howe and sent from Cornwall.

"Riley, are you staying with them or coming with me?" she asked.

"I dunno. Do you need help with a computer?" he replied.

"I don't need help breaking into Ian's computer, and what I seek to do is quite basic, but if you want to stay with me anyway, that's fine."

Riley glanced from the living room to Tanya and said, "Okay."

NTNT

Tanya had accessed Ian's computer faster than Riley could protest, and he instead sat in one of the chairs across the desk from her. She opened the internet browser and typed in a search query including the terms 'Martha Howe,' 'D. Howe,' and 'Cornwall'. She skimmed through the results and clicked on the one that seemed the most promising. It was a genealogical site and listed a Daniel Howe, seventeen fifteen to eighteen-oh-five, who seemed to have spent his life encoding and perfecting the system he and a woman named Martha developed as a husband-wife team so that it couldn't be cracked.

"Find anything?" Riley asked.

"Come on, check this out," Tanya replied.

He got to his feet and walked around to stand next to Tanya and squinted at the screen. "Think that's D. Howe?"

"It seems to check out." She printed the page off and waited until it was all there in the printer output tray. Then she straightened out the pages and stapled them together. "It might actually be useful. You never know." She got to her feet, and Riley wrapped his arms around her. Her head rested against his shoulder. "Is it your new thing to do things like this at random now?"

"I just miss getting the chance to spend some quiet time with you, is all."

She pulled away gently. "You have a point. Some peace would be nice, and we just don't seem to be getting it."

"Think we ever will?"

"Maybe. I hope so."

Someone tapped on the door to the study. "I hope everything's going well in there," Ian said. "Riley, don't do anything you'll regret."

"I'm not," Riley said.

"We'll be right out. I think we have something you'll want to see."

NTNT

"So, you think Daniel Howe and D. Howe are the same person?" Ben asked after Tanya explained what she'd found.

"It's my best guess given what's on the envelope and what I've found online," she replied. "Daniel and Martha Howe were a husband-wife team of encoders who spent their days perfecting their strategy and encoding system. They seem to have gotten so good many of their coded messages remain undecoded, perhaps even missing."

Ben gestured to the envelope and notecard on the coffee table. "And this is one of them?"

"I suspect so."

"Why would anyone do that?" Phil asked.

"Perhaps they wanted to be sure it would end up in correct hands," Ian replied.

"Who would that be?" Powell asked. "'S naet like we have thae best history."

"I don't think Daniel Howe knew anything about that," Tanya said.

Riley scanned the people sitting around the coffee table as silence settled in the Howes' living room. Tanya picked the card up and studied the symbols on it, searching around for a magnifying glass and eventually finding it on the endtable closest to Riley. When she settled back into her seat, she began examining the card more closely. Even in the enlarged view of the symbols the magnifying glass, they still didn't seem to mean anything, so she set the card and magnifying glass on the coffee table. When Riley caught her attention, he gave her a hopeful look, and she said, "Still not sure if it's worth a million dollars, but it might be, based on its historical value."

"So what do we do with it?"

"I'm not sure," Ian said.

"Join the club," Tanya said to her brother.

Ben stared at the card on the coffee table, upside-down to him, and pulled it toward him, along with the magnifying glass. Tanya furrowed her brow and glanced at Ian, who tilted his head to one side for a moment, raising his eyebrows and closing his eyes before returning to watch Ben do whatever he was doing.

Riley looked from Tanya to Ben and back again. Phil, Powell, and Viktor glanced among themselves, but none of them dared to speak. After some time, Tanya asked, "Anyone care for some tea?"

Ian and Riley nodded, and Tanya got to her feet walked into the kitchen, where she got three teacups out of the cupboard and began steeping. She leaned against the counter top with a sigh and stared out the window. There were fancy limosines going back and forth on the street in the distance, but beyond that, there was no other traffic. Some of the rich and famous could really go over the top, she mused.

The kettle whistled, so she killed the heat and poured the boiling water into each of the three cups, and then she grabbed a few tea bags out of the box next to the microwave. She put the bags in the water and returned to staring out the window. The road was now empty, and her mind wandered.

Ben must've had a hunch about the message, and she hoped he could crack what it seemed no one else could. It had happened before, if the newspapers were any indication.

She noticed the leaves were falling and drifting along in the wind.

"Everything alright?" Ian asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," she replied, pulling the spent tea bags out of the cups and setting them aside.

"What are you thinking?"

She turned around, leaning backwards against the counter. "Whatever Ben's thinking, it better work."

"It should. He's found a way to crack every cipher he's come across before."

"He has, eh?"

"At least, in my experience and judging from what I've read of his exploits." After a moment, he added, "Something tells me that's not all you're thinking."

"What do you expect me to say?"

"I don't expect you to say anything. I just want to know what's on your mind. Perhaps I can help."

She sighed. "I understand that you're my brother and you love me, as much as either of us hates to admit it, but do you really think this is going to work?"

"It has to."

She looked down into a corner and chewed her lip. "Ian," she said, looking back at her brother, "what if it doesn't work that way?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if Riley's right and we're being set up? I can't stop thinking about it, and the more I ponder it, the more I feel like he's right. I want to feel like there's something at the end of this, something worth all the time, effort, and money invested into finding it, but what if we're wasting resources trying to find fools' gold? Ian, don't just answer. Think about it. Just think about it."

Ian settled back on his feet and chewed his lip, looking at the countertop of the island seperating him from his sister. Tanya returned her attention to the three cups of tea. She set one on the island for her brother and took up the other two, carrying them out to the living room. She handed Riley his cup of tea, and he took a sip.

"You getting used to that stuff?" Phil asked him.

"Yeah, I am," Riley replied.

"Good thing," Tanya added. "I'm going to be making it a lot." He smirked, and she adopted a smug look.

Ian walked back into the room with his own cup of tea and took a seat in his recliner. Ben was still immersed in studying the note, seemingly completely unaware of what was going on.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

After some negotiating, Ben was allowed to take the notecard and its envelope home with him. Even after he got home, he couldn't stop studying it.

"Oh, what's that?" Abigail asked.

"This note we found in Ian's stuff," he replied.

"He let you take it?"

"Well, I told him maybe one of us knew how to crack this code. Think you know something?"

Abigail took the note and magnifying glass Ben handed her and walked around to sit next to him on the couch. She began scrutinizing the note and immediately turned it upside-down. She rotated it a few other ways when Ben asked, "Why'd you do that?"

"This looks like a few other codes I've seen. I think the same method we used to crack them can be used to crack this one," she replied.

"Well, worth a shot. I mean, we really don't have the key, so it might work."

"I'll study it at work tomorrow and tell you what I find out, okay?"

"Okay, sounds good."

NTNT

Tanya settled into the recliner and began reading the printout she picked up from the coffee table. The article made several references to the code the Howes developed, but there was no mention to any sort of key.

"I'm just spitballin' here, but maybe it's in the storage unit," Viktor said. When Powell, Phil, and Riley gave him weird looks, he shrugged and added, "What? Isn't that where everything else is?"

Riley looked back at Tanya, who shrugged. "He might be right," she said.

NTNT

"Wait, what?" Ben asked.

"We need the key to the storage unit," Tanya replied from the other end of the phone line. "I think Viktor's on to something."

He wanted to make a snarky comment, but Tanya sounded completely serious, and if there was anything he knew from experience, it was that when a Howe was serious, something had to get done yesterday. "Wanna just stop by and get it?" he asked instead.

"Are you at home?"

"Yeah, of course. It's not like I need to be anywhere until school starts."

"Alright, I'll be right over."

"Okay." He snapped his phone shut and set it on the coffee table. A few minutes later, his door bell rang, so he pulled himself to his feet to answer. "You're fast," he said.

"Thank you, Mr. Gates," Tanya replied.

Ben pulled a key out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Anyway, here it is."

"Thank you. Have a nice evening, enjoy yourself a little, but please, try not to think about treasure hunting. It most certainly looks like you could use a break from it."

"Okay, yeah, I'll try. Thanks."

"I'll see you, Ben."

"Yeah, see you."

NTNT

"That looked like it went well," Riley said as Tanya climbed into his car.

"It did," she replied. "The right blend of pleasantries and succinctity gets things done in this world."

"Any idea what we're looking for?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I suspect it to be some form of written document which explains the code system, since early on I'm sure he and Martha would certainly have needed it, if only to memorize the system."

"So, is it in that trunk?"

"I should suspect so."

He took a U-turn and drove forward, scanning the road ahead of him as he got closer. He glanced at Tanya, who was chewing her lip in thought, and then looked both ways before turning. "So, we're going to the storage unit to rummage through some old chest full of books and whatever else. Do I have it right?"

"Yeah, you have it right."

"Okay, let's go."

NTNT

Everything in the storage unit was exactly as they had left it earlier that day, and Tanya immediately walked to the back and rummaged through the open chest. The sun was low in the sky, and most of the storage unit was lit. Riley was perched on one of the lower stacks of crates, and when Tanya noticed this, she said, "You do know you can help, right?"

"Oh, right," Riley said with a laugh. He hopped off the crates and walked over to her side, kneeling beside the chest. He looked through some of the books and set each of them aside when he was done. This went on for some time until he found a box and undid the latch. The lid opened with a squeak, immediately attracting Tanya's attention.

"What have you there?" she asked, her eyes seemingly fixated on the box in Riley's lap.

"Just this box and another book." He handed her the small, worn book that the box had kept safe for as long as it had been in the box and the box in the chest. Tanya opened the book gingerly and turned the pages. "Is it important?"

"I think so. The first few entries are in English, and then there are some in a blend of code and plaintext, and then nothing but code. Rather unusual, but perhaps useful. Oh, and still not sure if it's worth a million dollars."

"Dang it." In spite of his voiced disappointment, she noticed he was grinning.

"Riley, I'm sure everything will work itself out. Don't worry."

Tanya studied the pages that were a mix of code and plaintext, and immediately she noticed a pattern. The code was taking shape, and the symbols lined up with the letters above them, and as it developed further, sometimes symbols were used in place of whole words. "By George I think we've got it."

NTNT

Ian placed his bookmark in his book and set it on the table, and then he leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun as it cast its light across the room. For the first time in a long time, he had some peace and quiet, and he didn't have to think about anything. In some part of his awareness, he was fairly certain Shaw was present, adding to his sense of peace.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. "So much for peace and quiet," he muttered as he fished his phone out of his pocket.

The message was short and sweet, a style characteristic of his sister. 'Found the key it's Daniel Howe's journal'. He snapped his phone shut and set it on the table, on top of his book. He put his feet up and closed his eyes again. Sweet, blessed peace had been restored.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Okay, Ian knows. Let's take this," Tanya said, holding up the journal, "and go home."

As she walked out of the storage unit, Riley said, "Guess that means we're one step closer to the treasure."

"Riley, I really don't like that you're calling it that when it couldn't be that at all."

"Why go to all this trouble to hide something that isn't a treasure?"

"Alright, I'll give you this one."

She climbed into the passenger side of Riley's car and buckled her seatbelt. Riley climbed into the driver's side and started the car before buckling his seatbelt. He took her hand in his and ran his thumb back and forth across his fingers. Tanya smiled and leaned back in her seat. "This really is nice," she said.

"We should do this more often."

"Raid storage units that aren't ours for keys to codes when we have no idea where they lead?"

"No, just spend some quality time together, be a couple."

"Maybe, when we don't have things to worry about."

"Still thinking about that prison riot?"

"And other things. If I just knew who tried to kill my brother, I'd rest more easily."

Riley licked his lip. "Maybe, given everything we saw and heard and lived through so far, the President was behind that so he could get to us and, ultimately, whatever treasure is at the end of this."

Tanya paused, but just slightly. "I want to say that that's preposterous, but in all honesty, you have a point. I haven't heard anything definitive one way or the other about the riot and who tried to kill my brother, so everyone's a suspect. No one's talking, and I haven't had the nerve to walk into the jailhouse and ask some of the inmates a few questions, but I haven't heard anything from the police regarding whether or not they've talked to officers, or if they know anything."

"See, I'm smart, kind of."

"I never said you weren't."

"Well, lots of people think it. Some will say it."

"Riley, it doesn't matter. The general public knows nothing and obsesses over everything."

"Sounds like you know a lot, too."

"I do, not to toot my own horn, as it were."

Riley chuckled and turned a corner. The sun was halfway through setting. After a few more minutes of driving, he pulled into the walkway and parked. Tanya leaned in and kissed him good night, and when she pulled away, he said, "See ya, sweetheart."

"Call me if you need anything, but don't wake me up in the middle of the night," she replied as she climbed out.

"Okay, can do."

"I'll see you as soon as I can."

"Okay."

Tanya waved as Riley backed out of the walkway, and then she walked up the front steps and into Ian's mansion.

NTNT

She could hear voices, and images flashed before her eyes, but none of it seemed to make sense. The voices mingled together until they were one unintelligible murmur, and the images seemed to blend into a sea of color.

Then, one image snapped out of the sea of color and murmur of sounds with startling clarity. It was the President, pointing a gun at her. He cocked the gun and said, "Last chance. Tell me how to find it or you and your boyfriend die."

She tried to speak, and her mouth even formed words, but no sound would escape her. The President moved to pull the trigger.

Tanya shot up, panting, in a cold sweat. "I'm okay," she whipsered. "I'm okay, I'm okay." After she'd calmed down some, she lay back down and pulled the covers up to her chin.

Everything around her was quiet and still, so she allowed herself to relax, eventually falling asleep again.

NTNT

"You had a vision last night," Ian said, rather matter-of-factly, as Tanya popped some bread in the toaster. "What did you see?"

Tanya turned to face her brother. "Does it even qualify if it was in my sleep? Could've just been a nightmare, you know."

"Howes don't often have nightmares. We should know this."

"This time, perhaps it is."

"What did you see that makes you prefer it to be a nightmare rather than a vision?"

She took a seat at the table, leaning forward. "Would you believe me if I told you?"

Ian leaned back in his chair, fully facing his sister, and crossed his legs. "Possibly," he said. "Try me."

With a sigh, she said, "I saw the President, threatening my life and Riley's if we didn't tell him where to find something. He didn't say what it was, but when I tried to say something, he pulled the trigger, and I woke up."

"Oh, well, it could go either way, but to be safe, I want you to store it in the back of your mind in case you should happen to need it."

She nodded, and the toast popped up. Tanya obliged, got to her feet, and buttered it. She put the slices on a plate, unplugged the toaster, and returned to the table. "Ian, do you remember the prison riot?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Do you know who tried to kill you?"

"I can't identify him, as I haven't seen him before in my life up to that point, but I'd certainly recognize him the second I see him again." She nodded. "Why are you asking?"

"Because I'm beginning to feel that getting to the bottom of this is a better thing to do with myself than trying to find this treasure, or whatever."

"Ah." Tanya took a bite of her toast and studied the center of the table. There were salt and pepper shakers and a pair of candlesticks, and that was about it. "Is there something you're thinking?"

"Ian, I wanted to find out about that prison riot so that we could seek justice and end it all now. Now, we're involved in this treasure hunt, and I feel like I have to pick and choose." She dropped her piece of toast back on its plate. "I wish I didn't."

"I don't think you have to."

"What?"

"We can still find out who tried to kill me, if you feel that would be a better use of your time, while at the same time carrying out the hunt."

"I haven't told you Riley's theory yet. He thinks the President did it."

"Why?"

"Some convoluted scheme to get to the treasure."

"Well, supposing Riley is correct, then it should be easier than expected to get the two tasks done in tandem."

"Supposing he's correct."

"It can still be done, either way. Don't worry." Tanya nodded, chewed her lip, and returned to her toast. "Is Riley going to stop by again?"

"Not sure, but I told him to call if he needed anything, but not to wake me in the middle of the night."

Ian smiled softly. His sister and her boyfriend were something else.

"Do you mind if I run an errand later?"

"No, of course not."

"Thank you."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Abigail pulled the envelope out of her purse and the card out of the envelope. When she set it on her desk, she began rifling through files in drawers she had access to. After some time, she pulled a file out of its place and set it on the desk, opening it and methodically searching through the papers. Her assistant walked into the office. "Dr. Chase, there's someone here to see you," she said.

"Oh, yes, of course." She closed the folder and set it aside, and Ben, of all people, walked into the office.

"Hey, Abi," he said, leaning in to kiss her. He took a seat across the desk from her and set a small, well-worn journal on the desk. "Tanya dropped by. She said this might help."

Abigail picked the book up and opened it, thumbing gently through the pages. "Where did she find this?"

"She didn't say, but I'm guessing in the storage unit, where we found the note."

"Makes sense. Thanks, Ben."

"No problem. Well, I guess I better let you work in peace."

"Thank you."

As Ben got up to leave, he asked, "Hey, uh, can I take you to dinner some time?"

"Sure. How about, tomorrow at seven?"

"Yeah, okay. Sounds good."

Ben smiled and turned to leave, and Abigail returned her attention to the note.

NTNT

Tanya put the keys on the rack and walked into the living room to find Ian and Riley making small talk. "Looks like he did stop by after all," she said.

"Yeah, I did," Riley replied, and Tanya took a seat on the sofa next to him. "So, how've you been?"

"Good. I stopped by Ben's place to drop off the journal, but apparently Abigail's working on the note right now. I think he got it to her, but I'm not sure."

"Okay."

Tanya leaned into Riley, and they both leaned back on the sofa. He and Ian continued making small talk to which Tanya paid little attention. At least, she paid little attention until Ian said, "Tanya, perhaps you should tell Riley what you saw last night."

"Ian."

"You saw something?" Riley asked, squeezing her gently.

With a sigh, she said, "It was some sort of dream. The President was there, threatening our lives unless we told him where to find 'it'."

"The treasure?"

"I think so."

"Everything's gonna be okay."

"You don't know that."

"Actually this time I'm pretty sure."

"And I still say you don't know everything's going to work out."

Riley sighed. "Well, what if I told you I was trying to help you feel better?"

"Then I'd thank you for your efforts."

"Okay."

"Am I to assume nothing else of import has happened of late?" Ian asked.

"Not that I know of," Tanya replied. Riley shrugged, and at that moment his phone rang. "You were saying?"

"Hold on, I gotta take this," Riley said after checking the caller ID, and he walked off into another room.

NTNT

"Hello, Mr. Poole," the voice on the other end of the line said.

"Hello, Mr. President," Riley replied. "Where were you?"

"About. You did call, though, several times, so I thought it was only nice that I call you back."

"At least you haven't dropped off the face of the earth completely."

"So where is it?"

"The treasure? We don't know yet."

"What do you mean you don't know yet."

"Well, we found another clue, and we're working on that, but-"

"But nothing. Where is it."

"Whoa, holy one-track mind, Batman."

"What? Does everyone who pretends to offer me advice have to enforce the idea of a bigger picture?"

"I thought that was the whole point of advice."

There was a sigh on the other end. "It needs to be found, ASAP, or all hope is lost."

"All hope of what?"

"Classified."

Riley swore under his breath. That was the only response he'd gotten to every serious inquiry about what the President knew about the treasure. "I really hate it when you say that."

"I know, but it keeps me safe, for now."

"For now? Wait, what?"

The line went dead before Riley could get an answer. He sighed and snapped his phone shut, and he pocketed it, ready to walk back into the Howes' living room, when he almost ran into Tanya. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

"I'd ask you the same question, but something tells me I know the answer," she replied. "That was the President, wasn't it."

"Yeah."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing, unfortunately." He walked past her, on to the living room.

"Now I know something's wrong," she said to herself as she followed him. "Riley, perhaps we should talk somewhere in private."

NTNT

Riley sat on the stairs leading up to the patio, and Tanya placed a chair on the grass and took a seat. "Let me spitball for a moment. The President's not telling you something that we both need to know for whatever reason," Tanya said.

"Yeah, pretty much," Riley said. "He said it's classified."

"Now let me play devil's advocate. He can withhold whatever he chooses to, since this is his secret, and he's decided to play by his rules. The rest of us normies just have to live with it."

"And if we don't want to?"

"Then he could have us pinned down for treason. That's punishable by death in this country, right?"

"Yeah, not like you'll get caught."

"Especially if he threatens our lives, wherein we could claim self-defense."

Riley looked down at the grass. "What're we gonna do?"

"We're gonna finish this hunt to save our lives, and we wait for the status quo to change."

"You get that from my book?"

"Yeah. I think I'm on the seventh time through right now."

"But who's counting?" Riley asked with a laugh, and Tanya laughed with him.

"Feel a little better?"

"Yeah, yeah I do."

"Good. That means I've done my job. Now, ready to go back inside?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, let's go." They got to their feet, and he followed her inside.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Ben's phone rang, so he checked the caller ID and then answered, "Yeah?"

"Ben, get the Howes down here now," Abigail replied urgently, "and you should come down here, too."

"You crack it?"

"Yes."

NTNT

Ian, Ben, Riley, and Tanya walked as a foursome down the hall, and Ben exchanged pleasantries with Abigail's assistant. Some time later, they were allowed to enter the office. Without a word, Abigail passed Ian a piece of notebook paper. Ian scrutinized the paper before passing it to Tanya, who then passed it to Riley, who passed it to Ben. "What do you guys think of it?" Abigail asked.

"Oh, that really is something," Ben replied, handing her the paper.

"Any idea what it could be?"

"I'm working on it."

"May I have another look at that paper?" Tanya asked, and Abigail passed her the paper. Amidst Abigail's notes was a copy of the symbols on the card, spaced so that the corresponding letters and words could be placed where they belonged in context. 'Dearest Martha, Remember what I told you. I've hidden it well, and I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me of I don't tell you where. After I die, you may find the answer in my journal, but I can't let them find it. D. Howe'. "Do you still have the journal?"

"Yes, I do," Abigail said, sliding it across the desk, away from her. Tanya picked it up and then asked for the envelope, which Abigail also handed her. She checked the date on the postmark, and then began thumbing through the entries for one close to the one on the postmark. She found it close to the back of the book and marked it with the card before closing the book.

"If he was smart, he'd write the location down somewhere," Ben said.

"I've been thinking the same thing, but we'll have to use what's in here," Tanya replied, holding up the journal, "to translate the rest of it."

"Looks like you've already figured out where to start," Ian said.

"I have a good idea. I hope it's worth something."

"We've been taking a lot of long shots lately," Riley said. "Can't hurt to take one more."

NTNT

Tanya referred to the first few mixed pages for what had to be the thirtieth time, matched up the symbol she was working on, and then wrote the corresponding word in her notebook. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand, seeing that it was only ten thirty, and returned to her work. The entry wasn't half translated, and she'd been at it for three and a half hours. "Wow, they were good," she muttered, having to refer to the key pages for the next symbol.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door. "Come in," she said, not looking up from her work. Ian walked into the room and flicked on the main lightswitch.

"How's it coming?" he asked.

"Slow."

He walked over and took a seat next to her on the bed. "It's getting late. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely positive."

"Does this have anything to do with what you saw?"

"The sooner I get this done, the better off we'll be."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well, if you say so."

This time, she did look up, and she did so with a slight sigh, giving Ian an indignant look. "When this is over, I'll have plenty of time for rest, so don't worry about me. I have this under control and I know what I'm doing, but so far, it's been very slow going. I can still work everything out, and we can all be happy, alright."

"That's not my problem. My problem is that I don't want you risking your life and good health for a treasure hunt."

"And if I don't, then not only am I risking my life, but Riley's as well, and possibly yours. I'm not willing to take that chance."

"I understand." After a comfortable pause, Ian asked, "Do you need some help, since this is such slow going?"

"Sure. Thanks a lot."

"Of course."

NTNT

Tanya found herself awaking amid a small pile of assorted, seemingly unrelated objects: the journal, a notebook, a pencil, her phone. Ian was standing in the doorway. "Ah, you're awake," he said.

"How far did we get?" she asked. To that, Ian only smiled. She pushed herself up with her hands and looked at her notebook and then at the journal. They were still open, to the plaintext and coded entries respectively, and it seemed to her that they finished at some point last night. She sat up in earnest and picked up the notebook. The page contained a mix of both her and Ian's handwriting, and the language was archaic, which was to be expected given where the key was found.

The entry itself seemed uncharacteristically short, at least, judging by what she knew of journal entries of the day, but if all it was for was to hide a location or an address somehow, then the length seemed more than enough. After a moment, she read through the entry.

'My promise to my beloved Martha, kept.

'As it could't stay with us, I was forced to hide it elsewhere, and to preserve its memory, I plan to tell my children of it, but I must never mention exactly what it is. Treasure seems an appropriate word, so I'll use that instead.

'In case my wife or our descendants should ever read this, it is my duty to now provide what I know, and I know that somehow, they'll find a way to understand the meaning of it.

'There is a place where prying eyes dare not peek and eavesdropping ears fear to listen. Only the bravest of souls enter, and in doing so they risk losing their minds. It can be assured whatever is hidden here will remain until there is someone out there to find it who is also a brave soul.

'She would also need to know, East Brunswick Ave.

'D. Howe'

"Well, my first impression is that this means another flight to England," Tanya said. "You remember East Brunswick Avenue, don't you?"

"I do," Ian replied. He paused a moment and then added, "Perhaps we don't fly to England this time."

"Excuse me?"

"Think of it this way. If we send Ben and Abigail, Riley, you and I can stay here and keep track of them. Assuming the President takes the bait, both of your lives are spared, as is what's left of our family. It's not like he's going to kill those two. They aren't the ones he's after."

"Do you even think that's going to work? I understand you have a good track record for successful, if questionably legal, plans, but this seems to border on the insane."

"You think it mighty not work?"

"I'm not sure, Ian, but I do dread this a little, and you should know of my track record as I know of yours."

"I do."

She set the notebook back on the bed and criss-crossed her legs, resting her elbows on her knees. "Ian, all I'm saying is, let's think this through first before we do anything rash. We can't risk more casualties and we most certainly can't risk failure, and both of these can happen, either seperately or in tandem, when we do rash things."

"I understand."

Tanya scooted closer to the foot of the bed and swung her legs over the edge, stretching them out a little. She then got to her feet and walked over to Ian. "I recommend we host a meeting and discuss our options, but that's just me."

Ian nodded. "Alright," he said.

NTNT

Riley lay across the length of his couch, channel-surfing for something to pass the time, and he found what he was seeking in the form of a marathon of reality shows about nothing truly important. After some time, he turned off the television and fished his phone out of his pocket, already dialling a number before fully realizing what he was doing.

"Hello?" Tanya said.

"Hey. I have nothing to do, so I decided I'd talk to you, and lo and behold, I have your phone number," Riley replied. "So, how are you?"

"I'm good. How're you?"

"A-Okay. Figure out the entry?"

"Yes, with Ian's help, but that's as far as we're going for now. The last time we did rash things, we ended up where we didn't want to be. I've sworn off of it years ago, and I'm assuming Ian has just recently, or more recently than I have."

"Okay, yeah. Well, I trust you, and I know you know what you're doing."

"Thanks, Ri. So, how're your friends?"

"They're out."

"Out like, on a date?"

"Yeah. Been a long time coming."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "It might be in danger of falling apart. Keep your distance until we know better, alright? I don't want you to deal with the fallout too much."

"Uh, okay. Hey, you didn't tell Ian my theory about the riot, did you?"

"He almost died. He deserves to know, and you know what, he really thinks it's possible, and if you're right, we can get essentially to the bottom of two mysteries at once, or so he thinks."

"Well, he could be right."

"Well, as I said, we're not doing anything rash just yet. We'll have plenty of time for that later, and I'm not losing you or Ian."

"So what do we do? We still have to solve this."

"Yes, we do, but it can-should-wait. There are other things that we have to deal with."

Riley fell into patient silence, allowing words to come together in his mind. After a moment, he said, "We can do this."

"I know that. I just want a solid plan of action for when we decide what we do."

"Okay. So, do you want me to drop by again?"

"Please do. I think it's best if we hold something of a meeting soon."

"Should I bring Ben and Abi?"

"It's recommended."

"Okay."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

About eighteen hours and some negotiating later, Ben, Abigail, Riley, Ian, Tanya, Phil, Viktor, and Powell were gathered together in Ian's sun room, and the notebook Tanya and Ian put the results of the translation of the journal entry on in the center of the table they were all seated around. "And you're telling us that you know where East Brunswick Avenue is?" Ben asked after a brief pause in conversation.

"We're born and raised Londoners," Tanya said.

"She's right. I'm pretty sure we can find our way around with some degree of ease," Ian added. "The matter of some debate seems to be the main riddle found in the entry. Any thoughts?"

"Well, the phrases 'where prying eyes dare not peek' and 'where eavesdropping ears fear to listen' suggest a...hallowed...ground, such as a church or churchyard, or perhaps a meeting place kept locked up, where local legend surrounding it holds that the people that go there have strange rituals and do weird, sometimes blasphemous, things."

"Such as the legends surrounding the Freemasons and Knights Templar at various points throughout history."

"Yes, exactly."

"That, plus the recent history of this hunt and where it's led us, leads me to believe I know what we're looking for."

"Ian, I hope I'm thinking the same thing you are," Tanya said.

"Can anybody please fill the rest of us in?" Riley asked.

"If memory serves me, there's a lodge somewhere on East Brunswick. A little driving through the moors and you've reached it."

"So, it's in the middle of nowhere?"

"Not exactly. Last I checked, it was on the outskirts of a small village, and since buildings don't grow legs and walk away, it should still be there."

"Sounds like another trip to London," Abigail said.

NTNT

Riley's phone rang, and as he had the last time his phone rang in the Howe household, he stepped out of the room into a private place to take the call. "Yeah?"

"Hello, Mr. Poole. Miss me?" The President asked on the other end of the line.

"What do you want?"

"Tell me what you know, and we can get this over with and go home. Sound good?"

"Sure as hell sounds familiar."

"Okay, how can I make this a sweet deal for you? What do you want in exchange for the information you have?"

"Who says I want anything?"

"I just want to know what'll sweeten the deal for Riley Poole, that's all. I didn't know it was too much to ask."

Riley chewed his lip and bounced around a bit on the balls of his feet, looking at Ian's ornate Persian carpet. Some time later, he looked up again and licked his upper lip. "What do you hope to gain by all this? Why are you so interested in us solving this Page Forty-seven mystery?"

From the other end of the line came a low, chilling laugh, and Riley was forced to fight the urge to jump, or worse: run away screaming. "Ah, Riley, Riley, Riley. You ask too many questions for your own good, you know, but if you didn't, your book wouldn't be quite as successful as it is, not even close. All we're trying to do is find a treasure, and we can, too, if everyone cooperates. Now, tell me what you know, and maybe I'll throw in a little present once we get where we're going, eh?"

"Why should I believe you?"

"You're not gonna have a choice." The President's voice could only have been warm if Hell had frozen over.

The line went dead, and Riley snapped his phone shut and pocketed it.

"Riley, you don't...look so well," Tanya said from the doorway to the sun room. Her brow was furrowed and her face angled slightly away from him. "I can't say you've seen a ghost, because the only ghost I know of is in the sun room watching over Ian, so what is it?"

"It's...it's nothing," he said. "Just another talk with the President."

"And why does he keep calling you? My brother and I are the only Howes among us."

"I think there's more to it than that."

"You're afraid he's going to follow us?"

"Well, he might, unless we start talkin'."

"Talking? Talking about what?"

"He wants to know what we know."

"So he's definitely on our trail. The question then becomes..."

"Why?" Tanya and Riley said at the same time.

"Everything alright in here?" Ian asked from the doorway.

"Yeah, we're fine," Tanya replied.

"Just...talking...about...stuff," Riley added.

Ian just nodded and walked back into the sun room. Tanya gave Riley a look before following her brother, and Riley suspended his hands in midair for a moment before letting them drop to his sides. He, too, walked back into the sun room.

"What was that about?" Abigail asked.

"Stuff," Riley replied.

"Good stuff? Bad stuff?"

"Dunno."

"So, about London," Tanya said to the whole group.

NTNT

Powell walked into the kitchen just after the sun set. Phil and Viktor were already seated at the table, having a few drinks. "This thae, uh, unofficial henchmen's meetin'?" Powell asked.

"More or less," Viktor said, reaching behind him to grab another shot glass from the counter. He filled it and offered it to Powell. "Care for a shot?"

Powell accepted the glass and took a seat at the table. "I propose a toast," he said, "tae what's hopefully our last trip tae London."

"I'll drink to that," Viktor said. Phil nodded in agreement, and the three raised their glasses and then downed the liquor simultaneously.

"I dunno about you guys, but I'm hoping that when this is over, we can all go back to our lives," Phil said. "I'm gettin' sick of treasure huntin'."

"Yer not thae only one," Powell replied, leaning back in his chair. "Yae know what I think? I think they're more sensible about it this time around, sae maybe this could work out well."

"I hope so," Viktor said. "I dunno how long we can keep this up. Another drink?"

"Nae, thank yae."

Viktor just shrugged and filled his shotglass. A second later, it was empty again. Everything was normal, at least, for a day like that one, Powell thought. So far, so good.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Tanya closed her eyes and leaned back against the headboard. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open, glancing at the clock in the upper left-hand corner. "Only ten fifteen?" she whispered, tossing her phone onto the bed and letting her head roll back. "God, can't this day end already?"

If they'd translated the entry and solved the riddle correctly, then that meant that at some point, they'd have to fly to London, and then there was the problem of the President, who had at first been avoiding Riley and was now pretty much calling every day, if the pattern continued.

She glanced off to a corner, where she glimpsed Shaw, who nodded and passed through the wall. He was off to go watch Ian.

Funny thing about ghosts. They sure have a way of sticking around, Tanya mused.

She scooted forward so that she could lay back completely, her head resting on the pillow. Almost unconsciously, she picked her phone up from its place on the bed and put it on the nightstand, and she folded her hands behind her head, staring up at the ceiling.

She remembered what she'd seen the night before, and she wondered if there was a way to avoid it. Certainly the President would follow them to London, since he likely said as much, or close to it, during his last conversation with Riley. Of course, she only judged as much through his state when she found him, after the conversation was over. There was something Riley had been told, something the President knew, and that seemed like the key to saving their lives.

There was something the President knew, otherwise he wouldn't want whatever was at the end of this so badly. If he didn't know what was at the end of it, then he should at least know what he wanted it for, or its purpose, or whatever. He knew something.

Now, how was Tanya to find out what?

A plan was quickly forming in her mind, and she immediatley got off her bed and walked out of the room, down the hall, and knocked on a door several feet from her own room. After some time, an incredibly sleepy Ian opened the door. "Mm, this better be important," he said slowly.

"Ian, I have an idea and I need your help," Tanya replied. Ian stepped aside and let her in. She noticed Shaw was sitting on the bed, and Ian eventually sat there as well.

"Is it good?"

"I think we should begin taking a different approach, and I feel it requires your specific...expertise."

"Continue." Tanya paced as she talked, explaining exactly what she thought and how they should go about finding what they needed, which, in this case, was a motive behind the President's persistance in the hunt. Ian nodded patiently where appropriate, and at several points, Shaw looked from Ian to Tanya and back again, but he kept his eyes largely on Ian. When she finished, Ian asked, "Do you think it can be done?"

Tanya stopped pacing and faced Ian. "I don't know if we have a choice."

"Next question. When can we start?"

"As soon as possible would be nice."

"Alright. Can I get some rest?"

"Sure, if you can handle Shaw watching you."

"That way I know nothing's going to happen to me."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, and we can iron all this out then."

Ian nodded with a smile, and Tanya left the room.

NTNT

The next day, Ian rose early, jotting down his sister's plan in a notebook before he even thought about breakfast. Certainly it seemed plausible, he thought, but the timing, oh, the timing. Correct timing was everything to the success of any plan, this he knew from experience, but timing correctly on short notice was next to impossible.

Unless he didn't have short notice. Even he didn't know when they were leaving for London, or who was going, though one of the Howes had to.

"Kill two birds with one stone," the voice in his head said, and he suddenly knew how it had to be done.

NTNT

Tanya walked into the kitchen to find Ian finishing his breakfast and making final notes in a notebook. "You're up early," she said.

"I needed to be. I can make your idea work, but I need to do a little research first, and, of course, book a flight," Ian replied. "I'll find a way, Tanya. It can be done, I assure you."

"But can it work?"

"It will have to."

Tanya took a seat at the table, folding her arms and leaning on them. "How soon?" she asked.

"Depends on what I find and, of course, what happens between now and when the plane leaves, whenever that is."

"Ian, what if...what if this blows up in our faces? I'm afraid that if we do the wrong thing, make the wrong move, if we do anything wrong, then Riley and I could be dead within the week or month or whatever, and I know you can't lose someone else. I know you've gotten stronger, but I have the sense that you're not ready for another loss."

"You're not going to die, neither of you, and the point you make is exactly why I want to split up the group. Some of us raid the President's office, the rest fly to London and find that treasure."

"I think that's the only way."

"So let's roll with it," he said with a smile.

NTNT

"Wait, you want what?" Riley asked.

"I want Ben's help," Ian replied, leaning forward over the table slightly. He looked over at Ben and asked, "Can you do it?"

"I can," Ben said, "but I'm struggling to believe you want me to help you do something illegal."

"Ben, I'm only asking you because you've done it before, and I can't risk anyone suspecting a thing, especially given my current circumstances." He looked at Riley. "What I need you to do is go with my sister and Phil to London to help her find what she seeks. I know she has reservations about you two being in the same place at the same time, but it might actually be beneficial to you both."

"Are you serious?" Riley asked. "You want us to commit a crime of high treason just to figure out what the President wants and if he was behind trying to get you killed?"

"If he sees himself as above the law, then this just might be the only way we'll get it done."

"And Tanya's on board with this?"

"It was her idea."

Riley sighed and turned his gaze toward the table, his hands folded in his lap. "Okay."

NTNT

Several days later, with plane tickets in hand and waiting for the plane to take off, Tanya, Phil, and Riley sat in their seats.

"Okay, let's recap," Riley said. "We're flying to London to go treasure hunting and Ian and Ben and the others are going to," he lowered his voice, "break into the Oval Office?"

"That sounds about right," Tanya replied.

"Let's just shut up and get this done," Phil snapped.

"Someone's getting impatient."

"I just want this stupid treasure hunt over with. Who's gonna blame me for that?"

"I'm not," Riley said.

"We're going to finish this, and they're going to finish what they're doing, and somehow, everything's going to work out."

NTNT

"Ian, I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Ben said.

"It's going to be alright. We're going to handle everything for you," Ian's voice replied through the headset. "Now, just go through the tour and do everything I tell you."

"Okay. Still can't believe I'm doing this, but here goes."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

At the most readily available opportunity, Tanya checked the messages on her phone, which happened to be while she was walking out of the airport. "What the hell could Ian want that's so important he has to call me multiple times when he knows I can't use my phone?" she whispered, calling him back. The second he picked up, she asked, "What the hell?"

"Tanya, we have a problem. We've lost Ben," Ian replied, his tone more urgent than Tanya expected.

"Wait, you've lost Ben?"

"Kidnapped, from the sounds of things. Be on your toes. I suspect that the President's flying over the pond with his hostage in tow." Tanya was sure she heard the cocking of a gun in the background, and she was also sure that was the sound that prompted Ian to add in a low, careful voice, "Tanya, listen very carefully. Get to the end of the hunt as fast as you can. Deprive this man of the opportunity he so craves."

"Ian, we're not going on without you and Ben." When Ian started to protest, she said, "Not a word. If we can't complete two tasks by dividing the groups, then we must at least complete one with the whole group together."

"Well, the status quo better change in our favor very quickly, or else-" Ian grunted, and a chilling voice said, "Sorry, but I couldn't let you finish this talk." The line went dead, and numbly, Tanya closed her phone and pocketed it.

"Lemme guess, bad juju," Riley said.

"Very, very bad juju," Tanya replied. "We have eighteen hours, plus or minus, before the President and his two hostages arrive in London. Ian wants us to deprive him of his opportunity and push on with the hunt right away, but if we do that, we might not get the hostages back."

"If I were you, I'd just do what Ian says," Phil said.

She turned to face them. "I can't, Phil. That man, that lunatic, has my brother."

"So, we're just gonna wait for him?" Riley asked.

"He's right. That sounds like suicide," Phil added.

"You know what else sounds like suicide? Cutting a deal with the President. His hostages, all of them, for that treasure, and if he pulls anything, I know what he's planning to do to Riley and myself, and it can be used against him."

"Are you kidding?" Riley snapped. "Cutting a deal with Ian is one thing, but this guy is a...a...a killer!"

Phil held up a hand and shushed Riley immediately, and Tanya said, "Don't worry. I know where we can talk this over."

NTNT

The sun set on London to find Tanya, Riley, and Phil in a decent two-bed hotel room on the strip near the airport. Tanya and Riley were sitting on one bed, facing Phil, who was sitting on the other. "Alright, the question becomes, how do we get in touch with the President?" Tanya asked, resting her elbows on her knees.

"What if he calls Riley again?" Phil asked.

"Then he'll have walked right into it."

"Into what?" Riley asked.

"She has something up her sleeve," Phil said. "Ian does the same thing."

"Phil's right," Tanya added. "I do. I just need an opportunity, and if the President contacts Riley, then I have an opportunity. What I need you to do, Phil, is do what you need to do to make sure he cooperates when he gets here."

Phil nodded, and Tanya looked at Riley, who nodded, chewing his lip slightly. "So what do I do?" he asked.

"I need you to stay with me, because if what I saw comes to pass, we know about it and can find a way to not only survive, but come out on top." She looked back at Phil. "Yes, I'm being optimistic, but someone has to, at least, for now."

Phil nodded, pursing his lips a little and closing his eyes for a moment. Riley also nodded, tilting his head to one side for a moment. Tanya smiled and looked from Phil to Riley and back again. "Let's do this," she said.

NTNT

Ben glanced over at the President before leaning toward Ian. "Now what?" he asked in a low voice.

"We trust my sister," Ian replied. "She must have a plan."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Do you doubt her?"

"No, but we're hostages."

"Haven't been here before, have you?"

Ben shook his head, and Ian shut his mouth, anticipating the President's glance several moments before it happened. After some time, the President returned his attention to what was outside the plane's window.

Ian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was certain Shaw was near, and he knew Powell and Viktor were on the plane. Something in him wasn't willing to believe he'd let them get taken along with himself and Ben, but another part of him accepted the strange sense of security he had that two of his men were with him in the struggle and the other was in London with his sister and her boyfriend. So far, while this wasn't what he expected, it was going pretty well.

NTNT

Tanya awoke in the middle of the night to find that there was a cold spot next to her. Her eyes adjusted as Riley walked out of the hotel room's bathroom. "Did I wake you?" he asked.

"I can't tell," Tanya replied.

Riley climbed back under the covers, wrapping his arms around her. "It's almost over," he said.

"Yes, it is. I could do with some quiet time with you." He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "You seem to be paying a lot of attention to me lately."

"I told you, I miss spending time with you just being a couple, and besides," he whispered, stroking her face, "I want you to know I love you, and I just got a little worried you didn't think I do."

Tanya rested a hand on his cheek. "Riley, I don't doubt you," she whispered. "You have nothing to worry about."

He gave a soft sigh of relief. "Oh, good. Had me worried." She smiled, and he added, "Sweet, she thinks I'm funny."

"And sweet, very sweet."

"Thanks."

"Let's go to sleep. We'll need our rest for tomorrow." She settled in close to him, her head on his chest.

NTNT

Tanya and Riley awoke to Riley's phone ringing, and Riley checked the caller ID before handing the phone to Tanya. "Hello?" she asked after flipping Riley's phone open.

"Let me guess, you're Ian's sister," the man on the other end of the line said.

"I am. Am I to assume you're the President?"

"Yes, you are. Are you more willing than your friend to tell me what you know?"

"Actually, I want to show you, but on one condition."

"Where do we meet?"

"In front of the airport, and make sure your hostages are there."

"Why?"

"That's part of my condition. You release your hostages, and I'll tell you what I know."

"We'll see. See you in front of the airport." The line went dead, so Tanya closed the phone and handed it back to Riley. She got out of bed and shook Phil awake.

"What?" he mumbled.

"C'mon, we have a hunt to finish," Tanya replied.

While Tanya dressed in the bathroom, Riley and Phil dressed in the bedroom, and they walked out of the room, down the hall, down the stairwell, and out the hotel without a word between them. The President, Ben, Ian, Powell, and Viktor were waiting outside the airport when Tanya, Riley, and Phil walked over to meet them.

"Now, what do you know?" the President asked.

"Let's rent a couple cars, shall we? It's pretty far out," Tanya replied. When he furrowed his brow, she added, "I did tell you I wanted to show you rather than tell you."

"Okay, let's go."

NTNT

As Tanya's eyes searched East Brunswick Ave., memories flooded her mind, or rather, she had the sense that memories were flooding her mind, and she couldn't place the exact date or even what the memories were of. "I still can't get used to this," Riley said from her left, the passenger's side in the rental car.

"You weren't born and raised in England," Tanya replied. "I had a hard time getting used to American cars. It comes with time, time which, at the present, we don't have."

"So, what's our plan, exactly?"

"So far, we just get to the lodge, look around, see what we can find, and if the President gets impatient, we fight back. If he tries to kill us, we kill him first."

"Isn't that high treason?"

"Who cares?"

Riley sighed and set his head back against the headrest. Tanya finally spotted the building she was looking for, along with several others which served as the outskirts of an out-of-the-way village, and she tapped the brakes. She glanced in the side mirror to make sure the car behind her had also started slowing down. Once she was closer to the building, she signalled and turned into the small lot to park a short distance from the street. The car behind her did exactly the same thing, except that it chose a different parking space, a little farther from the street.

Riley looked over at the building. "Looks a little...old," he said.

"I'm not sure if that was the intention or not, but it certainly works to serve the building's purpose," Tanya replied as she climbed out of the car. She walked around the other rental car and up the few steps there were to the front door, paying little attention to the others that followed her lead.

"What the hell happened to this place?" the President asked when he climbed out of the car.

"I think that sometime between the last time I've been here and the present, it fell into disuse and disrepair, and judging by the damage, this had to have started fairly close to the last time I was here."

"And there's supposed to be a treasure in this place?"

"Well, I'm no expert," Ian said, "but I'd say the disrepair of this building might have been a move to better protect what's here, but that begs the question, why wasn't it done sooner?"

"Maybe it was vandalism," Ben replied.

"Vandalism or not, we must go," Tanya said, pushing the door open. It creaked like no one was listening and was a little stubborn, but she eventually got it open wide enough for all eight to enter, if only in a single-file line.

The room itself was considerably deeper than it was wide, but it seemed to take up the whole width of the building and most, if not all, of its length. At the back was a doorway which led to seeming blackness, and all around were holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling, glass from the windows, and wires attatched to what appeared to be light fixtures that had fallen or were torn from the ceiling.

"Who'd wannae look here?" Powell asked.

"Hence Ian's theory," Tanya replied. "You never know. He might be right."

She walked to the doorway in the back of the room and had just reached it when Ben asked, "Wait, this place used to be a Masonic lodge?"

"Oh, I see you've noticed some of the symbols. Yes, it was, but it could easily have been forty years since anyone's used this building for anything." She glanced down at the threshold and instantly spotted a set of steep wooden stairs heading both up and down. "Watch your step." Gingerly, she stepped onto the landing.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

The rest of the group followed Tanya down the stairwell and into a room which could've been akin to a basement. "Okay, where are we?" Riley asked.

"I'm not sure," Tanya replied, taking a step forward and looking around at the room as her eyes adjusted. "Seems to be an average basement, but why would we be led here?"

"You don't think they're screwin' with us, do ya?" the President asked almost bitterly.

"No. I just think they're really clever little buggers." Tanya walked forward until she found a wall, and then she felt along it for any sort of a door. Once she was certain she had to be nearing a corner, a portion of the floor gave way beneath her foot, and she jumped back. "They are clever little buggers," she said. "Come on." She pushed at the section of floor until she was sure it was completely detatched, and she jumped through the hole, landing only about ten feet below the floor of the basement.

Pretty soon, all eight were under the floor of the basement, at which point Tanya asked her brother for his lighter. Once he handed it to her, she flicked it on and scanned what she could in the poor light.

"Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel under the old ruined building first?" Riley asked.

"I guess I'd better, since I have the light," Tanya replied, and with that, she walked down the tunnel, followed by the others.

Ben and Ian fell into step, and the former asked in a low voice, "Do you have a plan?"

"Oh, and you don't?" Ian replied. "That's rather unusual."

"I'm working on it. I just wanted to know if you had anything."

"I'm just waiting for someone to pull a gun. Then I can do something."

"Hey, hey, hey, no one is shooting anyone."

"Don't be so sure, Ben."

Tanya glanced at Riley, who was clearly getting more and more nervous with each step, so she asked, "Riley, what's going on?"

He stepped closer to her and whispered, "I don't know if I should be comfortable with my potential killer walking right behind me."

"Will you relax? We got the warning, everything should be fine, somehow."

"Whaddaya mean, somehow?"

"I just need an opportunity. With luck, my brother's thinking the same thing I am, and we can coordinate some sort of scheme to get us out of here."

"And if we don't?"

"Haven't gotten that far yet, but I prefer not to think of such things."

"Oh, right. We're all gonna die and you're thinking of a way to get out of this mess."

"Someone has to, more than one someone at some point."

"But we're still all gonna die."

"He only threatened us in my dream, as in you and I. Don't worry about it, alright?"

"Okay, fine." Riley settled back a little, and Tanya continued scanning the tunnel before her.

"Reminds me of the tunnel leading to our basement," she said after a little while.

"So is it gonna end any time soon?" the President asked.

"Sir, while I understand that you're a well-respected man, I don't appreciate the flippant tone you're using at the present, so shut up, and the journey will be that much easier and may perhaps come to a conclusion that much faster. Do you understand?"

"I get it, but-"

"But nothing. Shut up."

The President sighed, and Tanya relaxed. This was already looking easier. After several minutes consumed by blissful silence, she noticed that the light was falling on something in front of her, and if that was happening, it had to be close, close enough for her to notice that it was a door just as she noticed it was in front of her. "Let me guess, we finally made it," the President said.

"I should hope so, because contradictory to popular belief, I'm ready for this to be over."

Carefully, Tanya passed the lighter to Riley, who ended up having to relight it, and she studied the door. It didn't seem to have a handle, so she and Ian decided to push it open. When they finally succeeded, Ian whispered, "That took more doing than I hoped for."

"What do you expect? It's been two hundred years, easily," Tanya replied.

"So, what kind of place is this?" Phil asked.

"I'm not sure," Ian replied.

"Here goes nothing," Tanya said, and the eight walked into the room, which, as soon as there was some form of illumination present, appeared to be quite small.

"What kind of treasure goes into a room this small?" the President snapped.

"Well, Tanya was telling me a few days ago about some treasures not exactly being large collections, but single items, such as the Holy Grail," Riley said.

"And if that's correct, I suspect that's what we're dealing with, based on what I see here," Tanya added. "The question, of course, remains: why does this room appear to be completely empty?"

"I think," Ben replied, "this is some kind of a decoy, like what was used under Trinity Church. Of course, given the nature of this tunnel, there has to be another way out."

"This is true, but if the only way is forward, then it appears we're trapped," Ian added. "Unless..."

"Another trap door?" Tanya asked.

Ian scanned the room in its entirety. "That or some other cheap parlor trick."

Tanya chewed her lip, leaning slightly toward Riley, and whispered to herself, "If I were Daniel Howe, where would I hide something of considerable importance?" After a moment of pondering, she turned to Ian and asked, "Supposing you're Daniel Howe, where would you hide something you considered gravely important?"

"Oh, that's an easy one," Ian replied. "Behind thick stone walls inside a cast-iron safe to which only I know the combination, which I would then take to my grave."

"And how exactly would that help your decendants try to find this item of grave importance?"

"Supposing I was Daniel Howe, I wouldn't want them to find it, as I had no idea who they would be, therefore not being able to trust them as I would like."

"Ian, I know you're a little bit bitter, but can't you just try to be optimistic?"

"It's not bitterness. It's realism."

"Oh, shut up."

Tanya managed to find Ben and ask him the same question, to which he gave more or less the same reply as Ian. She grunted and threw up her hands in a gesture of failure, returned to Riley's side, and buried her face in one of her hands. Riley rested a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it a little, and after a moment, she looked up and relaxed a little. "We're gonna figure this out," he whispered.

"Well, we'd better figure it out fast, or else we're targets," she replied urgently. "Please tell me you have something that'll help us."

"Sadly, no."

"Okay, I have nothing to work with and this man needs something to work with, so we'd better come up with something."

"Yeah, that worked out real well for us when Ben's dad did it."

"Yes, it did, as I recall. Alright, so let's think of something, now."

Riley glanced at the President and then looked back at Tanya, and then he glanced at Ian. "Okay, Ben can't bluff, but Ian can, and I'm pretty sure he'd do anything to keep you safe. Since keeping you safe keeps me safe and keeping me safe keeps you safe, then we have work to do and not a lot of time."

"Alright, whatever you've got, let's do it."

NTNT

"Do you think it will work?" Ian asked in a low voice.

"It has to. I don't think we have any other choice," Tanya replied, also in a low voice. "Look, the President needs an answer, which we don't have, so we'd better come up with one, if only to buy us a little time to find the real one."

"And if he calls our bluff?"

"I know for a fact that there has to be a way out of here, so it won't take us long to find it in a room of this size. If we can get him to leave, then we can find the way out on our own, and we can keep him from whatever's at the end of this."

"Are you sure we want to?"

"I don't like the feeling I get from him, and so I think he can't be trusted."

"So we really don't have a choice?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So, what do we do?"

"Think of something."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Tanya glanced at the President. The atmosphere in the room was getting heavy, and she had to do something, fast. "Riley, let me see the light," she said, and he handed the lighter over. She scanned the room, at which point she noticed the chest against the wall. She walked over, opened the chest, and said, "There's our way out."

Riley leaned over her shoulder. "Doesn't look like a way out to me," he said.

"Well, let's jump in. I'm pretty sure it's a way out." She flicked off the lighter and passed it to Ian before leaping down the hole and stumbling a little on the landing. Pretty soon, the others followed.

"Is this more tunnel-y goodness?"

"I should hope so."

"This better be worth it," the President snapped. "I don't have all day."

"Neither do we," Tanya replied with the same snappish tone. "The more we talk, the more oxygen we use, and right now, I don't know how much longer eight of us will last, so shut up and follow me."

She reached out for the wall and walked along it, the seven others following behind her. "Pretty creepy hiding place," Riley whispered.

"That's part of the point, I think."

"Can I haunt this place a little?" Shaw's voice asked in Tanya's head. "It's creepy enough."

Tanya shook her head, mouthing, 'Not yet, in time.'

She kept walking, paying some degree of attention to how her perception changed without full use of her eyes. The echo of the group's footsteps became more clear, and eventually, she used it to keep track of how long they'd been walking in this tunnel.

A pair of footsteps behind Tanya was picking up the pace a little, making her more nervous than she needed to be, but she took a deep breath and carried on, telling herself that at least there had to be an opening at the other end of this tunnel.

The footsteps advanced, faster than before, and Tanya found herself not only turned one hundred eighty degrees, but also kneeing the President in the groin. "I hope no one finds out about this," she said, running a hand through her hair. Riley reached for her, and she added, "Go, run! Get out of here."

The President stumbled to his feet, and Tanya backed up a few paces. There was some shuffling, and Ben asked, "What's going on?"

"Just go, run, get out of here. Follow your friend," Tanya replied, pushing Ben onwards. She could tell by the rhythm of the few footsteps he'd taken that he'd stopped and looked back, so she repeated what she said, giving him another hard shove, and he ran. She winced at the hideous crack of someone's head hitting the tunnel wall, and she asked, "Ian, what's going on?"

Ian rested his hands on Tanya's arms. "It's going to be alright," he whispered. "We're safe now."

"And...and...you...you're boys?"

"Yea, we're fine," Powell said, and Tanya heard two other noises indicating some form of agreement.

"How do I know one of you isn't the President?"

"Why would I knock a guy out and then pretend to be him?" Victor asked.

"Hey, don't look at me," Phil added.

"Alright, let's go," Tanya said.

NTNT

"Oh, Riley, there you are," Ben said as soon as he caught up to Riley.

"Ben, look at this," Riley replied, gesturing to the room beyond.

"Riley, I don't see anything."

"Listen. It sounds like a way out." He tapped on the wall, and Ben had to admit, the echo did sound different, which was, in its own way, promising.

A moment later, Ben noticed a light coming from behind, and when he turned around, he found Ian, carrying the lighter, Tanya, Powell, Phil, and Viktor walking up to meet him. "Where's the President?" he asked.

"Unconscious somewhere down the tunnel," Ian replied with a slight head tilt. Ben knew better than to say anything. "So, what do we have here?" Ian asked, taking a step to the edge of the tunnel. The light given off by the lighter was just enough to reveal a rectangular object on a podium. The object was covered in gold and inlaid with various large, garish jewels.

"What is that thing?" Tanya asked.

"I'm not sure, but something tells me it's better left down here."

"Okay, can we get out now?" Riley asked.

"I assume we'd better."

"Wait, you're not going to take that with us?" Ben asked. "What if-?"

"There are no 'what if's when dealing with these sorts of things. I already told you, this thing's better off left down here."

"Alright, enough talk. Let's go," Tanya said, walking into the room with a direct avoidance of the podium. The others soon followed.

NTNT

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Riley said. Tanya smiled and glanced out the nearest window of the plane.

When she looked back at Riley, she asked, "And what would've been climactic enough for you? A huge room full of treasure?"

"Well, as cliche as that sounds, yeah."

"Remember my speech about treasures that were one item?"

"Yeah."

"Then I believe that's what we found. I'll have to decode the rest of Daniel Howe's journal and see if there's anything in it that will help us figure out exactly what we found, and if we see a need for it, we can go back for it and figure out what to do with it. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Now, I hope the police find the President, before anything happens to him."

"But then he'll still try to go after us."

"My second hope is that he leaves us alone so we can focus on other things. Remember, the hunt is technically finished."

"So why do I get the sense that there's still stuff we have to?"

"Because there is."


End file.
